Estreya, I hate to burst your bubble, but here in the PNW there are very very few roses that can be grown well without either spraying, or terrible disease problems. Even in the relatively dry corner of SW WA you're in blackspot heaven. Please note that both respondents telling you you don't have to spray are in California. I grew roses in CA for 20 years and never even saw blackspot, let alone sprayed for it. Here in WA, however, totally different environment. Much better suited to growing blackspot than it is to growing roses. I often refer to my rose growing hobby as 'growing substrate for blackspot'. Rose mosaic virus will not go away, and with our colder winters and shorter colder summers, it's much more deleterious to your roses here than it is in CA. Rust is generally a disease of hot dry nitrogen-poor soils. Your roses need more fertilizer than just compost. Compost is a soil amendment, not a fertilizer. Now is the best time to go out and buy a nice organic balanced rose fertilizer and put in on, it will be worked on by soil microbes all fall and winter and be ready for your roses in spring when they're ready for it. Fungicides aren't like crack. Using them won't addict your roses to them anymore than drinking milk for the calcium addicts you to needing more calcium than you would have otherwise. And no, your roses will NOT get stronger and more resistant as they grow older. Blackspot propagule populations will build up in your rose garden and you'll have more and more blackspot. You would not deny a child medical care, or a dog veterinary care; why deny your roses the fungicides they're asking you for? Either dig out the sickest roses and try other varieties, or spray for the blackspot, or just look the other way. If you spray, you have to spray regularly, and before it's a problem, as fungicides are preventatives, not curatives. Most everyone I know up here in Oly had next to no blackspot this year, including me, and I didn't even spray, being too busy. Some years are worse than others. So I don't know why you'd have bad blackspot this year. Avoid overhead watering of the roses; water the soil, not the leaves. Blackspot grows on damp leaves. I can't help you with the thrips. Thrips happens. Nothing short of chemical warfare seems to touch them, and even that's not a sure bet. Check with the Portland (OR) and Fort Vancouver (WA) rose societies for recommended varieties in your area. Some varieties are more disease resistant than others. When web searching keep in mind that Vancouver rose society is in British Columbia, and the one in Vancouver WA is the Fort Vancouver society.

Ok thanks. I saw one of these nymphs on my elephant ear (which is just starting out) and I caught him easily and threw him over the fence. I was super mad...I wonder if there will come a time when I will kill them...not sure but he was easily caught. I see them from time to time but there doesn't seem to be too many. They camouflage well though.

I found this link that might help: Posted by gardenguru1950 SunsetZ16 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 13:06 The most common "eater" of rose leaves in California is the Bristly Rose Slug, the larvae of the Rose Sawfly. The sawfly is a pudgy little wasp. It lays its eggs on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves and the caterpillars feed on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves. The rose slug is tiny, no more than 1/4-inch long and very slender, and it's the exact same pale green as the undersides of the leaves. Talk about hard to see and find! It's the critter that "skelotinizes" rose leaves. It's pretty easy to get rid of, actually. Almost any good spray will do the job: insecticidal soap, Neem, pyrethrum. The trick is to spray thoroughly UNDER the leaves. Not stand back and spray all over. You have to get UNDER the leaves. By the way, a commonly suggested spray for rose sawfly is BT. It doesn't work. It doesn't work because it's meant for the caterpillars of moths and butterflies. The rose slug is the larvae of a wasp. And I'm not sure of any beneficial insect that preys upon it. As for your rose buds, Applenut has a good idea. Go outside late at night with a flashlight. The critter most likely is an earwig, sowbug or pillbug. It also might be a slug or snail. Joe Here is a link that might be useful: Bugs that eat roses' leaves

I expect that you are just overlooking the caterpillar.